A new genus, Complexispora, with two new species, C. multistratosa and C. mediterranea, and Epigeocarpum japonicum sp. nov.

Morphological analyses of three glomoid spore-producing fungi suggested that two of them were undescribed species of Glomeraceae (phylum Glomeromycota), and the third differed slightly from Dominikia glomerocarpica and Epigeocarpum crypticum, recently described in Glomeraceae. The first two fungi originated from the Mediterranean Sea sand dunes of the Peloponnese, Greece, and the third was originally found in a tree plantation in Yokohama City, Japan. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the 45S nuc rDNA region and the RPB1 gene showed that (i) the three fungi belonged to Glomeraceae; (ii) the first two represented a new genus, here described as Complexispora gen. nov. with C. multistratosa sp. nov. and C. mediterranea sp. nov. and (iii) the third enlarged the monospecific genus Epigeocarpum, as E. japonicum sp. nov.

Automated summary

Morphological analyses of three glomoid spore-producing fungi revealed two undescribed species of Glomeraceae and a slightly different species from recently described ones. The first two fungi were found in sand dunes in Greece, while the third was discovered in a tree plantation in Japan. Phylogenetic analyses based on genetic sequences confirmed that the three fungi belonged to Glomeraceae, with the first two representing a new genus named Complexispora and the third enlarging the monospecific genus Epigeocarpum.